Xenite.Org News

Four years of reporting and counting...

March 20, 2002 at 23:53:37

We were so busy getting ready to change servers, and so stunned by the unexpected death of New Zealand actor Kevin Smith the weekend of February 16, that we let a special anniversary slip past us.

Xenite.Org has the distinction of operating the Web's oldest continually updated Lord of the Rings movie news site. The original version of this site went live in February 1998. We only ever found one older site, and it was never updated after the first page was put up in December 1997 (with nothing more than the revelation that a rumor was circulating about Peter Jackson possibly doing a "Lord of the Rings" movie).

So, February 2002 marked a four-year anniversary for this site, and as Xenite.Org's 5th birthday approached we were very concerned about whether we would even have an active server come March 14.

And then came the news of Kevin Smith's death, resulting from a fall on a movie set in Beijing, China. Although Kevin played no part in Peter Jackson's movies, he was very much admired by Hercules and Xena fans around the world, and the New Zealand film industry being as small as it is, many of the people who worked on "The Lord of the Rings" were personally touched by the loss of a truly marvellous actor.

Xenite.Org expressed its sympathy to the family and friends of Kevin Smith for a month through a special memorial banner, and we were inundated with grieving fans who stayed in touch and up-to-date on the latest news at our Kevin Smith Forum.

To those people who worked on the "Lord of the Rings" movies, who knew Kevin and suffered this terrible loss along with his family and fans, we offer our condolences. We are sure that Kevin was proud of the work his fellow Kiwis have done on these films.

Anyway, here we are, four years and one month later, still trying to help keep LoTR fans informed about news and events pertaining to the Peter Jackson movies (and similar or related projects). If it seems we've been providing less original coverage of late, well, we've been busy, and we do apologize for the problems many of you have experienced.

We wish we could have marked the four-year anniversary and the fifth birthday with greater joy and a smoother transition, but we're glad so many of you have stayed with us. We do this for you, no matter what anyone else may whisper in the dark corners of the Internet. Thanks for being here.